Pharmacies have run out of the over-65s flu vaccine, as despite pre-ordering the vaccine this April, the order never arrived.
Ms Patel from Clockwork Pharmacy said that they were having to order in the over-65 jabs whenever they can. In a previous order they requested 100 doses and received five, and she said: “today 30 were delivered, but we ordered 50”.
Every September the NHS invites the most at risk to receive a flu vaccination, but Carter’s Chemist pharmacist Chetan Vekaria has said that “the pandemic has had a big impact” in the huge increase in demand among Caledonian Road pharmacies this year.
In the first month and a half of the annual flu vaccination programme, Clockwork Pharmacy has already carried out more than last year’s total of 250 jabs. Pharmacist Komal Patel predicts they will administer 500 in total.
Further north on Caledonian Road at another Clockwork branch, pharmacist Umar Pirzada explained they have administered 400 in one month, when they would normally vaccinate 500 in a whole season, and they too are out of stock of the over-65 vaccines.
Mr Pirzada says they will have to wait until mid-end of November to receive more doses once competition for the vaccine has hopefully eased.
Pharmacies are working on a text alert system, where patients are contacted as flu vaccines become available.
